My Favorites of this Week

A few of my favorite things this past week included:

1.Two nice positive emails from Josh, (with pictures attached)! Hearing from my son made my week! This is Josh (Elder Jones now) and his companion Elder Paynter.  Mormon missionaries always come in twos.  Here is an except, grammar checked and edited, -(hey I'm still an English teacher) from his email this week:

"Hola Everybody, Everything is beginning to smooth out a little bit; I'm getting the hang of things.  I hope all is well for everyone at home. There are a few individuals here who have really helped me through tough times I'd like to tell you about [them]. Elder Johnson is from the Salt Lake area. From day one...he's been an inspiration to me.... another missionary here who really inspires me in Elder Willard. I think he's from Missouri...he always asks if everything is going okay and whenever I do need to talk he has this interesting perception of things. Elder Willard and Elder Johnson are good guys who've helped me a lot while I'm here. Everything is going alright with my companion Elder Paynter....Today was nice too. I got to go to the temple...other than that not a whole lot is happening. I love all of you and am praying for you. Send me lots of letters and emails. Anyone is welcome keep me informed on whats happening at home; I'd like to hear. Oh, and Elder McBride thanks again for inspiring me."

Josh is still at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) learning Spanish, but in just a very few weeks, he will be using the Spanish he has learned when he lands here:

I surely am thankful for the friends Josh is making at the MTC ~ young men and leaders who are helping and inspiring him every day.  The next two years will be an amazing adventure for him.

2. I was able to have enough reading time to finish Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis and begin Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Mere Christianity had been on my "to read list" for a while and it was very deep - not a quick and easy read at all, but I am glad to have read it.  You can read my Goodreads review here.  

 3. I finished grading a lot of essays this week.  I now do most of my essay grading online using turnitin.com which checks for plagiarism and makes my life as a teacher a little easier. I will have more essays to grade next week, but, that's why they pay me the big bucks!

 4. I am making progress in cleaning and straightening Josh's room.  He went through some of his things before he left, but gave me permission to do more of a deep cleaning and organizing, which I have been doing.  His room wasn't a total disaster, but it was a pretty typical teen aged boy's room.  I still have more to do ~ like working under his bed (see top photo) and in his closet.  Perhaps I will have a little time to start tackling those areas this weekend.

 5.  Charly and I decided to skip Halloween this year ~ so I am writing a blog post instead of sitting out on my drive-way handing out candy.  I have nothing against Halloween at all.  Although it has never been my favorite holiday, it can be a lot of fun. My own children went out trick-or-treating every year pretty much from the time they could walk, but this year, we are taking "empty nester's prerogative" and deciding to skip buying all that candy (some years I have spent from $30 to $50 on Halloween Candy) and use the money to send Halloween goodie boxes to the grandkids and Care Packages to Joshua.

6.  I've got to add one more thing that I have really been enjoying lately and that is the music of Lindsey Stirling.  I often stream music in my classroom, while students are working and I fell in love with Lindsey's music before I knew anything about her.  Turns out, she is an Arizona girl, a BYU graduate and a returned Mormon missionary.  I found out this week, that her father teaches seminary (a Mormon scripture study class for high school students) at the high school where I teach.  Usually some of my students make fun of the music I stream into the classroom, but not so with Lindsey Stirling's music. This young woman is an amazing talent.  If you haven't heard her, I encourage you to listen to her music and watch some of her fun music videos like this one.  She has been on America's Got Talent, but since I never watch that show, I had no idea.  You can hear more about this very talented young woman, whose music I have been enjoying this past week, here.  

So those are some of the things that have made this week a good one for me.  After being absent from Friday Fave Five for several weeks, I am joining once again with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story. 

Enjoy your weekend and remember:

Best of the Week

 Here are a few of the best things from this past week:

• Sunday Morning.  The day is more relaxed than other days, so I can sleep in (today I slept in until 6 a.m.) then get up and eat a more leisurely breakfast. Today I walked out into my backyard while eating and was greeted with this lovely pink and blue sunrise. 

• Church Women'c Conference.  The conference included some excellent speakers and classes and also the opportunity for service for the community. This is a stack of some of the 250 fleece blankets made by the women in our area for donation to the local domestic violence women's shelter.  I made and donated two blanket and was happy to be part of this awesome service project.

• A Clean Break. I broke my little finger on my birthday (a couple of weeks ago) then thought it might not be broken, so waited several days to see the doctor before deciding that it was definitely broken.  I was finally able to see an orthopedic hand specialist this week who took additional x-rays and determined that I probably won't need surgery and a pin since the break appears to be clean and just above the joint.  This finger split seems to be all that is needed at the moment.

• A Date for Chinese Food.  Hubby and I love Chinese food and our favorite "hole in the wall - mom and pop Chinese place" isn't far away.  My favorite is the Orange Chicken, and the best part is that I have leftovers to take to school for lunch tomorrow!

• Care Packages.  I have been working on Halloween fun boxes for the grand kids and care packages for Joshua.  This month, we are doing our bit to keep the United States Post Office in business.

• Good Books. I finished the book Positivity this past week.   It is an an excellent, thought-provoking book about why a positive attitude is vital to our health and happiness. You can read my Goodreads review of the book here.  I am also reading the C. S. Lewis classic, Mere Christianity, and have a goal to be finished with it this week.

• Our First Email.   We got our first email from our missionary son.  He is doing well, but said that learning a new language is tougher than he thought it would be.  He asks for prayers from whoever is willing to send them.

And that, my friends,  has been our week here in Arizona.  We are looking forward to having cooler temps coming up - this weekend has been downright hot! 

Have a great week and remember:

"Happiness does not come from doing easy work but from the afterglow of satisfaction that comes after the achievement of a difficult task that demanded our best."

                                                                          --Theodore Isaac Rubin

Coming Back Online, Catching-Up and Saying Farewell

It has been over a month since my last post and I have missed reading, posting and exchanging comments and ideas with my blogging friends.  It has been a super busy and intense month as we prepared our youngest son to become a full-time missionary.  He left last Wednesday for six weeks of language training and then he will be on to his field of labor in Mexico. If all goes well and as planned, we won't see him again for two years!  

Here are some scenes from in an around our home during the past few weeks of preparation.

 We had some very special trips to the Gilbert Temple for Josh and his mom and dad.

 All Mormon Missionaries go to the temple before reporting to their Missionary Training Center.

Josh and his dad ~ tired but happy after an afternoon and evening at the temple.

There were a lot of white shirts to wash and label so Josh's white shirts wouldn't get mixed up with any of the other missionaries' shirts.

 A friend from church, machine embroidered his name on each shirt. 

With the exception of some last minutes changes and additions, Josh had his bags packed over a week before he had to leave.   He was so very excited to get going on his adventure.  

 Last Sunday evening, we had a farewell open house for Josh.

 It was well attended and we are so grateful to everyone who came and showed support for Josh!

Our house was filled with close friends, neighbors and others who wanted to say goodbye and wish Josh well.

Josh had worked closely with the missionaries assigned to our ward (congregation) and Sunday's open house was bitter sweet because Elder McBride (the missionary standing with his arm around Josh) has completed his two years of service and was leaving to go home to Washington state.  Josh and Elder McBride had become pretty good friends.

There was lots of food and laughter, but the best part was the warmth, love and generosity showered on Josh.

Tuesday of this week, Josh was "set apart" or officially made a full-time missionary with a simple but beautiful blessing by our Stake President.  Our Bishop was also present...

...as was Charly

...and I.  

It was a very spiritual and memorable evening.

Here, Josh is pointing to Mexico, where he will be serving.  This world map hangs outside of our Stake President's office and has pictures of every full-time missionary serving from our stake (diocese).

It's fun to look at the map and see where all the missionaries are serving.  

 Very early the next morning, Wednesday, Josh put his luggage into the car...

 ...and we headed for the airport.

 Here, Josh is waiting in line to check his bags...

...before heading up to his gate.

There were at least four other missionaries on Josh's flight to Salt Lake City.  Josh met this young man in a scripture study class he took at a nearby community college and found out they were both headed to the same mission on the same day.  It was fun to meet this young man and his family and take turns taking family pictures of each other's families.

A picture with mom...

...one with dad...

...and then one with all three of us together.

After that, it was time for Josh to head through security and off to love, serve and help others for the next two years.  

When Josh arrived in Utah, his big sister met him at the airport, then with her husband and children, they took him to the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah, where he will spend the next six weeks.

We were so pleased that Tiffany and her family lived close to the MTC and could be part of this happy family event.

Josh enjoyed seeing his sister, brother-in-law nieces and nephews, but their visit was short and then...

Elder Joshua Jones entered the Missionary Training Center to become one of over 88,000 Mormon Missionaries!

Now Josh is gone, and while our houses seems empty at times, we are happy that he has made this decision to serve a full-time mission.  It will change his life for the better in so many ways, and we are so very pleased that he has chosen to take this wonderful opportunity.

Meanwhile, I am back online in the Blogasphere and am looking forward to reconnecting with my friends and catching up on what has been going on with you!  

See you again soon and enjoy the week ahead!

"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."

--Matt. 28:19-20